ASCII Line Art with Orgmode and Python

The last post was about converting ASCII line art into the SVG format within Emacs Orgmode using SvgBob. As versatile and may be a bit easier to use is Ascidia, which is written in Python. Ascidia renders to SVG and PNG.

Install Ascidia with:

pip install ascidia

Open Emacs, enter org-mode and load Babel-Python:

M-x load-library RET ob-python

Finally, use Ascidia to process your ASCII line art in your Orgmode code block:

#+BEGIN_SRC python :results value file :exports results
import ascidia as asc
diagram = asc.process_diagram("""\
.-----------------------------------.
|   .-----.  .---------.  .-----.   |
|  /       \/           \/       \  |
| :        /             \        : |
|  \      :               :      /  |
|   :     |               |     :   |
|   |     |               |     |   |
|   :     |   /\     /\   |     :   |
|    \    :               :    /    |
|     '----\             /----'     |
|           :           :           |
|          / \  -----  / \          |
|         /  /:  ---  :\  \         |
|        +--' |       | '--+        |
|         +---'       :             |
|         |          /              |
|         |         /               |
|         +--------'             vep|
'-----------------------------------'
""")
prefs = asc.OutputPrefs(fgcolour=asc.NAMED_COLOURS["blue"])
fname= './img/mastodon.png'
with open(fname, 'wb') as stream:
    asc.PngOutput.output(diagram, stream, prefs)
return(fname)
#+END_SRC

Press C-c C-c and get:

Next to having code and graphics in one file, I sometimes enjoy the restriction to only a few basic shapes, connectors and angles. This restriction enforces kind of a clean and tidy and reduced layout.

Have fun!